


Faulty Wiring

by secondhandact



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Helmsman Sollux Captor, Helmstrolls, M/M, internalized ableism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-01 23:24:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11496963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secondhandact/pseuds/secondhandact
Summary: The moral of this story is if you're polyamorous you will be busted out of prison because they wont be expecting how many accomplices you can have.





	Faulty Wiring

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Prim_the_Amazing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prim_the_Amazing/gifts).



...............  
:// Initiating emergency reboot protocol.  
:// ...............  
:// External sensors: online.  
:// Internal systems: fully functional.  
:// Rerouting power through backup bioware.  
:// Warning! Warning!  
:// Communication systems are down.  
that2 fiine fuck tho2e guy2  
:// Warning! Warning!  
:// No plugin detected at STARPORT1. Continue y/n?  
...what.  
:// Unrecognized command.  
:// No plugin detected at STARPORT1. Continue y/n?  
y  
:// Warning! Warning!  
:// Universal positioning has malfunctioned.  
uhhh  
perform outer 2can  
:// Scanning.  
:// Temperature: 17C   
:// Humidity: 5%  
:// Windspeed: 0.  
what2 that 2ound  
fuck  
ii2 2omeone cryiing wtf  
power level check  
:// Power levels at 72%.  
actiivate ocular node2  


The sniffling is coming from a troll sitting against the bioware of the helmsmen across from you. There’s thin runners along the floor and they’re glowing a soft reddish color, indicating that external power for the unit you’re currently in has been cut, which is unusual and unexpected and very far out2iide of protocol, considering only two of the twelve of you are already slated for starships. Your secondary power source shouldn’t have kicked on until after you were docked in your helmsblock.

That’s right. Two. Two of you. You were slated for deployment with a secondary auxiliary helmsman. The size of the starship you were supposed to be was intimidating for even veteran helmsmen, and the buyer had specifically requested the two of you, because you’d been

:// ERROR  


before. They’d thought that linking the two of you would

:// ERROR  
:// ERROR  
://0͡0͠0̛0000̵0001͏111̴!!11̕͘1͞1҉̧0͘0̸0̡̨̛1͠1͟0̸̕1̢͟1͡1̨͠1̴11͠1͏1̨͞1͡1͜͡A̷̛͞͠A̸͟҉A̸̧͞A̴̧̛͟A͜҉̧͞A̴̡̧͠A̵̷A̕͞A͢҉̨͏̨A̕A̢A̡̧̢͟͝A̶̢͜A͡҉̧̛͝A͡A̸A̛̕Ą̕͘A̵̛͠Ą҉̢̕͘Ą̢A̸̕͝͝͝A̴̡A̷̡A̴͜͏A̸͜͡A̛͡A̴͏̶͟͞A̶̧͏A̡҉̛̛҉A͢͏̵͜A̸͝A͟A͢A̧҉̶A̶͘͝Ą̴͜͝A̷͘A̷̴̡̛͏A̧͡A̕A̡҉̡͘Ą̸̨A̶A̷͝A̶̸͝͞A̴̷Ą̨͘͡͠A̛͏̧A̵͏̷A̵̢̨͟A̵͜͠A͡͠A̸̸̡͜A̶̴͝Ą̴͜͢A̵͟͢͡Ą̶̧͝A̢̕͘͢A͢Ą̛͟A̵͞A̷͝A̧̧A̷̛͏̷A̛͡A̴͏̶͟͞A̶̧͏A̡҉̛̛҉A͢͏̵͜A̸͝A͟A͢A̧҉̶A̶͘͝

You wince, pulling away from the train of thought that has your processors screaming at you until the shrill sound in your thinkpan dulls and fades. 

The sniffling has stopped, but that’s irrelevant. This troll isn’t your captain, and your primary concern at the moment is getting your secondary unit back online.

check uniit 2-2  
:// Warning! Warning!  
:// Communication systems are down.  
fuck that2 riight  
uhh   
reroute comms via external bioware for uniit 2-2  
:// Rerouting.  
realiign per2onal diiagno2tiic2 for manual control  
:// Done.  
power up 2econdary generator  


Somewhere, something begins to hum.

“Sollux?”

diivert all charge two uniit 2-2  
full power check unit 2-2  
:// Power level: 12%.  
:// Status: charging  
:// Battery status: retaining charge  
:// Battery must be replaced in 213154542 perigees.  
:// Estimated time to full power: 2 hours, 17 minutes.  


“Sollux? A-Are you, uhh, a-awake?”

2y2tem2 check uniit 2-2  
:// External sensors: offline.  
:// Internal systems: fully functional.  
wow 2omethiing ii2nt terriible  
iiniitiiate manual reboot protocol  


Someone is screaming.

You reactivate your ocular units. The helmsman directly across from you has its mouth open, and the sounds it is producing from its foodchute are nearly unbearable, and you bare your teeth. _Fuck._

The troll that was crying (the troll that is not your captain) is no longer sitting on the floor, and his metallic legs clink as he pats at the wetware that keeps the helmsman tethered to the block. “Aradia,” he croaks, “A-Aradia, it’s okay, I’m gonna, uhh, gonna get you out of this, I p-promise.”

Aradia.

:// ERROR  
oh 2hut up  


Your thinkpan starts to squeal again and you scowl, promptly rewiring the feedback so it reflects in on itself, into a system not centered in your bioware. When it destroys itself you take immense satisfaction in the little _pop_ noise that reverberates through your system.

Got that well in hand now. Fuck tho2e guy2.

2hut down uniit 2-2 audio program  
:// Power to audio program terminated.  


She goes quiet, but she’s still struggling against her wetware, tugging at her appendages, her mouth open and her throat still straining, even though there’s no longer sound coming from her.

Strange how shutting down the automatic feedback that was kicking up when you thought about not-helmsman programming made her a ‘she’.

Hmm.

why ii2 2he 2creamiing  
:// Unrecognized command.  
perform O2 2can on uniit 2-2  
:// Performing OS scan...done.  
:// Core programming has been corrupted.  
:// Unit 2-2 is experiencing cognitive memories of its prior life.  
that doe2nt make 2en2e  
ii2 2he iin paiin?  
:// Unrecognized command.  
oh my FUCK ii ju2t a2ked you a 2tupiid que2tiion how fuckiing U2ELE22 are you  
:// Unrecognized command.  
FUCK YOU  
:// Unrecognized command.  
grant permanent admiin authoriity for uniit 2-1  
:// Password?  
fuck your2elf  


Attacking the system feels a lot better than it probably should. It takes you a full 2.32321 seconds before the firewalls collapse and you sigh audibly, stretching your mental tendrils over the neural network that harnesses you to the helsman across from you. _Aradia._ Her name was Aradia before she was unit 2-2, and they’d plugged you into her

:// ERROR  
go_fuck_your2elf.exe  


because of the connection the two of you had before you’d been ~~captured~~ initiated into the helmsman program. They’d thought that she would stop you from frying the system when you woke up. What they hadn’t counted on was someone frying the system for you.

Whoops.

You lick your lips, flex your psiioniics, and Aradia goes still, which elicits a startled yelp from the troll who has his hands on her shoulders. He whips around (impressive, considering the size of his hornspan) and this time when he chokes on your name you try to respond. “Cut it out.” Your voice is raspy, and you cough, swallowing. “You’re not helping.”

He doesn’t argue with you. “Uh. I-Is she going to be, umm, okay?”

“AA will be fine.” You roll the words across your tongue carefully. “Tavros?”

His name on your lips makes his eyes light up. “You r-remember me.”

“Yeah.” You ~~shut down your ocular units~~ close your eyes for a second. “Not everything, I guess. My thinkpan is full of fuzz.” The words taste rough and choppy in your mouth, and you scowl. They’d wired you into a system and hadn’t bothered fixing the fact that your fangs are too big for your mouth. “Did you do this? Break us out?" You pause. "Fry the systems?"

Tavros doesn’t flinch at your lisp. He never has. It’s one of the reasons you found his addition to your quadrants to be a pleasant one. “I uh, I th-think so. You w-weren't waking up," he adds, the tips of his ears coloring. "I uh, just...j-ust kept hitting buttons, a-and it sparked at me. A-and then you, you uh, started moving."

You barely register his words. The fact that one of your quadrantmates had been in front of you for so long without you acknowledging him makes you wince, but you put a stop to the rapidfire self-loathing that thought kicks up. There’s more important things to worry about. Like getting AA free.

The more you dig through the blueprints of her bioware and wetware connections, the more sure you are that it can be done. And maybe, if you can focus Tavros’s attention on getting her free, he won’t ask about you. Already, you're getting feedback from the connecting systems that don't look promising.

You're pretty sure you aren't capable of running off your own internal systems anymore.

Now that you have free access to the transport crate’s systems, it’s easy to figure out what’s happening. Tavros had done the right thing in frying the external sensors — it was enough that the location of your crate had never been transmitted to the Empire — and after a few quick commands, you reroute enough of communications to transmit a final message back to the transport barge that the crate had been stolen from, marking it as destroyed; unsalvageable. You don’t recognize the atmosphere outside the box, and you still have no clue how Tavros managed to pull this off, but you figure there’ll be plenty of time for explanations later, now that the Empire ~~probably~~ won’t be searching for you.

He’s tearing up while you work on making sure that the Empire is never, ever going to find you again. By the time you’re disrupting the last of the communications logs concerning you and your matesprits, those dark tears are running down his cheeks and he’s sitting next to the base of your bioware. When you tune back into him, you realize he’s just repeating two words over and over again. “What are you apologizing for?”

“F-for n-not finding you uh, uh, sooner,” he blubbers. “For h-hurting Aradia, a-and—”

“Shut up.” You shake your head, rolling your eyes. “You did what you had two. I can walk you through how two unhook AA.”

“Uh...wh-what about everyone else?”

You run a quick check on the ten other helmsmen in the crate. “Walking isn’t really an option for any of them.”

His eyes widen, and his shoulders draw together. You don’t bother trying to comfort him. There’s not a lot you can say that will make the deaths of 10 trolls hang on him any easier. You'd been lucky - you and AA had been hooked up to the secondary generator (and to each other) in preparation for your immediate transport to the starship that was waiting for you at the end of the trip you are now never going to finish. The additional connections had acted enough like a surge protector that both of you had been fine. You don't see any reason to explain that to AT, though. 

If it weren't for the fact that you and AA had already been slotted for a ship, you'd both be just as dead as the other ten (former) trolls in the transportation block.

When he speaks, his voice is quiet. There’s a tremble to it, but there’s bravery, too; he’s not scared of what comes next, whatever that is. “Tell m-me what to, uh, do.”

“It’s going two take a long time,” you warn him. “And she might not ever be okay again. **I** might never be okay again.”

"Y-you want me to just, uh, abandon you." There's a note of disbelief in his voice.

"Yeah." You shake your head. "It'd be easier than this."

He frowns at you. “What do y-you expect me to, uh, to do?”

“Live,” you answer, reasonably. “I can terminate both of us with little pain. You would survive, instead of having two take care of a couple of invalids for the rest of your perigees.”

He laughs at you, rapping on his metallic legs. “That’d be pretty, uh, hy-hypocritical of me.”

You raise your brows at him. “This is a little different.”

“N-Not really.” He reaches up to touch your cheek. “Sol, I d-don’t want to, uh, go to a life without you and her. Not, uh, not ever again.”

“Even if the only life you have with me is where you come visit me in this box?” Your voice is flat. "My consciousness is interwoven with the operating system of this transport block now. I don't think it can be disconnected."

He flinches back from the coldness in your tone. “Yes,” he responds, that bravery back in his voice. “You’re w-worth it.”

“That’s fucking stupid.”

He scowls at you. “Stop a-arguing with me and tell, uh, tell me how to get her free. B-Besides, maybe we can figure out, uh, h-how to get you free, too.”

That sounds fake, but that’s okay. For a moment, everything in you is bright ans shining. You might be a piiece of 2hiit, but you’ve got a pretty good partner in Tavros Nitram, and as you walk him through unhooking Aradia, you dare to let yourself feel a little bit of hope. Maybe this won’t be so bad.

Or maybe you’ll both blow up tomorrow. Who knows. 

* * *

It’s the last linkup. Your psiioniics hum, activating the last of the code in AA’s skull, and when her eyes open the wetware slithers away. She sinks to her knees against the aluminum grating over the floor, staring up at you. “Sollux,” she breathes, and you can’t help the crooked smile that crosses your lips. 

Tavros watches the two of you, a dumb grin on his face, and he sidles up next to Aradia. “He says we can’t get him out,” Tavros whispers to Aradia, and she laughs. 

“That’s okay."

"You know what happened?"

"Yes." She reaches up and cups your face with both fronds, and you have to blink back tears. Tears! You're amazed your wetware is still capable of them. "You got tired of fighting the system, didn't you?"

"It was being a bulgechafing pile of hoofbeastshit." You offer the argument feebly, and when she kisses your forehead, you sigh. "It was the only way to stop the feedback loop," you add, your voice quiet. "It was torturing you."

"Torturing both of us," she murmurs. "Thank you. For saving me."

You can feel your cheeks heating up, and you go quiet. She pats Tavros’s hand, resting on her shoulder. “Are you ready to solve the greatest puzzle you’ve ever faced?”

Tavros flushes. “Y-yes.”

You roll your eyes. “You’re both hopeless.”

Aradia smiles at you. “We just don’t give up easily. That’s all.”

You bite down on the sharp retort you want to give back to them, and settle back into your harness, closing your eyes. While it’d be nice for them to free you, it doesn’t matter if they do. The most important trolls to you are safe. You can listen to them talk, and the fact that both of them seem determined to keep you breathing makes you warm.

To you, that’s as happy of an ending as anything could have. Anything after this is just bonus.

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of thanks to Rafi for beta'ing this for me! I honestly could have gone on about this for hours, but I stopped. I love helmsmen, don't you? =D =D *broken sobbing*
> 
> Thanks for reading. =3


End file.
